BoyGirl - Questione di... sesso

The next door neighbors Nell Bedworth (Samaire Armstrong) and Woody Deane (Kevin Zegers) have opposite behaviors and hate each other: the virgin geek Nell is polite, sensitive and well-prepared to go to Yale, while Woody is rude and his greatest expectation is to join a mediocre university due to his abilities playing football. When Nell and Woody are assigned to visit together a museum, they argue in front of the statue of an Aztec god. During the night, their souls swap bodies, bringing difficult situations to them. They first try to damage the reputation of the other in the high-school, but sooner they discover that their dream of joining college would only happen with mutual respect and support.

There are many movies of swapping bodies; therefore "It's a Boy Girl Thing" is not original. However this predictable story is very funny and this movie is an enjoyable entertainment. Samaire Armstrong and Kevin Zegers show a great chemistry and have excellent performances. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Coisas de Meninos e Meninas" ("Things of Boys and Girls")

An up-tight, straight-A student swaps bodies with her diametrically opposite in the form of the popular quarter back. Antics unfold as the two are forced to (literally) spend sometime walking in the others shoes.

Variations of this theme have been done before in "Big", "All of me" and of course "Freaky Friday."

The format lives or dies by the actors and how effectively and how humorously they can enact the transposition.

It worked for me, the characters were interesting and I became embroiled in their personal issues. I also liked the actors and was impressed with their skill and the direction.

At the end of the day this is a teen flick which has to serve a specific audience. It has the obligatory dose of teen angst and goofy comedy. But this all works well and I found it highly enjoyable.

Good Film Flex fodder

The actors are mostly likable. The plot is amiable enough too. Thing is, it's been done before, and done much better. Consider Debbie Reynolds and Toni Curtis in 'Goodbye Charlie' (1964), or the Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin masterpiece, 'All of Me', where he acts out the movie while being possessed by a woman. Or one-hit-wonder Joyce Hyser's 'Just One of the Guys', where she becomes a guy (I forget why). Or the semi-good 'The Hot Chick', with the creepy Rob Schneider and the ever-so-hot babe, Anna Farris. All those movies explored the notion of girls and boys living in each other's bodies. Weener jokes, 'Hey, I got tits!' jokes, stumbling in high heels, 'delicate flower' young ladies belching at the formal dinner table, etc., etc. There is even a cinemagraphic grammar about that whole thing by now.

Not to say there wasn't some appeal here. The cast is likable. Although the dude did seem really, really gay, even when he was not being possessed by a girl, but supposedly his own male self. I couldn't tell the difference. But the young woman actor who had to play a guy trapped in a girl's body managed really well. But there was also the obligatory black guy side kick, bitchy bimbo girl rivals, an unsympathetic 'Desperate Housewives' type mom, and cool slob parents, played by Sharon Osbourne (yaaay!) and Maury Chaykin (also yaay, but for different reasons).

All in all, nothing 'wrong'. Nothing unpleasant nor unlikeable. Just kind of shallow, and very derivative. There was a group of what seemed to be 14 year old kids sitting up in the back of the movie theater I attended, and they laughed and oohed and ahhhed a little bit at some lame-ish jokes. Well, great! I hope they liked it. But I suspect that they are probably the major audience that would find this movie appealing or interesting. And that's OK. I gave it a 5 out of 10--- nothing bad, but also nothing great... just ordinary.

When " A Night At The Museum" was sold out at my local multiplex, I reluctantly purchased a ticket for "Boy Girl Thing". The reviews that I read were fairly miserable and I was expecting a clunker.

I was completely surprised by how brilliant it was. Hilariously funny. Surprisingly moving. Great soundtrack. I was completely hooked by the journey that Nell and Woody went on in each other's bodies. I think both Kevin Zegers and Samaire Armstrong are the stars of tomorrow. They might have been a little old for their roles, but it didn't matter. I was completely caught up in their journey. Even Sharon Osbourne made me giggle.

It won't win any awards, but if you are looking more light-hearted fare that leaves you with a smile on your face, it's a complete winner.

I guess it really shows what stupid idiots critics can be.

I know what you're saying. There are countless of movies out there involving body switches, either parental-kid (like Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis in Freaky Friday), and cross- gender, be it deliberate (like Amanda Bynes in She's The Man) or through inexplicable supernatural occurrence (like Jack Neo's Just Follow Law, or The Hot Chick starring Rob Schneider and Rachel McAdams). Whatever the case is, it seems that such stories still can find a market and a demand, otherwise they wouldn't be made, will they? And comedies which arise from such situations almost always seem to recycle some jokes, removing plenty of lustre from what could have been funny, but not so, because of familiarity with the subject matter.

Surprisingly, It's a Boy Girl Thing still worked, for me at least. Sure, it had the usual jokes with respect to changing and getting used to the new bodies, taking advantage of the change to get chummy with the boys/girls with ulterior motives, and doing everything just wrong deliberately so as to get back at the person whose body you now possess. But what this one had, was plenty of heart, pounding on the universal theme of empathy, of not being able to fully understand someone, until you get under their skin and walk around in it, in which case this movie of course took things literally.

Samaire Armstrong stars as Nell Bedworth, who's into literature, and whose snooty, prim and proper parents are holding their hopes of her daughter getting into Yale. Her neighbour is school quarterback jock Woody Deane (Kevin Zegers), whose family is pretty much of the average joe, laissez faire type, whose dream for their son is to work at a sweatshop from 9 to 5. Naturally the school jock has a minor aspiration different from his parent's expectation, and that is to score a college education through football.

It's no rocket science that the two of them don't get along, and as the opening credits illustrate, they get on each other's nerves ever so often, that some ancient god decide to play a prank on them by switching their bodies. Thus unleashing pandemonium in their lives as they have to grapple with living in a foreign body, as well as to ensure that they stay on their respective course to pursue their dreams. It also becomes the usual opposite attracts story, starting with their adversary with each other, to the inevitable finale, but what indeed was marvelous here, were the little scenes crafted where they have to begin to lean more about each other, and to gain each other's trust.

What I felt helped the movie was its decision to junk a lot of unnecessary subplots that usually bloat such movies, to just keep it simple and very focused, delivering almost every time it called for a punchline, or during non-comedic moments with serious drama, while laying off the melodramatics. Simple words uttered, simple actions made, spoke loads and went the mile. The chemistry between Samaire Armstrong and Kevin Zegers worked wonders too, whether they're playing it straight, or playing each other's characters, and sometimes there are situations where you just have to do a double take to put things into their correct perspective.

If there should be a gripe, it would be the jarring edit made for an NC16 rating. This is one movie that didn't fear getting into the politically incorrect field, filled with nudity and plenty of coarse language, which I thought was somewhat of an adults-only version of a genre done so many times. And if you're a fan of rap and hip-hop, then you'll probably find yourself grooving to the soundtrack from Eminem to the Black Eyed Peas.

This movie comes recommended. It's not perfect, but it was jolly good fun.